Ray Horton has no bitterness toward Arizona Cardinals

How does he feel about not getting the AZ Cardinals' head coaching job? How does he feel about being released from his contract with the team?

You’d think a guy who guided a successful defense for two seasons and then was passed over by that team for their vacant head coaching position would be pretty steamed, right?

If you thought that, you’d be wrong. Former Cardinals defensive coordinator Ray Horton didn’t land the job he deeply wanted when Ken Whisenhunt was fired. Instead, Horton has moved on to be the new defensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns and Todd Bowles will lead the Arizona defense. But Horton has no bitterness toward the team that passed on his services.

“Mr. Bidwill, his position is to get the best guy for the team, in his opinion,” Horton told Burns and Gambo Thursday on Arizona Sports 620. “I guarantee you, that’s exactly what he did, in his opinion he got the best guy for the team, and I’m good with that. That’s life, that’s reality, that’s what it is, and you move on.”

After the announcement that Bruce Arians would be the next head coach, there were rumblings that Horton had a “heated discussion” with new general manager Steve Keim. Horton addressed that as well.

“Not true,” he said. “The GM and I had not talked since Monday morning when we just sat down and had an open, honest communication and talk.

“I believe we have a great friendship, so there was no arguing, no yelling and no cursing. I respected the process that they went through and doing their due dilligence, and it was just time to move on.”

Despite changing his work address, Horton still hopes for the best for his former colleague, Arians, and the team that gave him his first opportunity to be a coordinator in the league.

“Bruce is going to do a heck of a job. You watch, they’re going to be averaging about 30 points per game and I believe Todd will continue to build upon what I did — they’re going to be winning games 30 to 10. They’re going to be blowing people out.”